'Loved': The game that hates you

During the course of your first ten minutes with the title, you might be called a girl, an "ugly creature", "disgusting", told that you control nothing, or instructed to throw yourself onto spikes. Combined with the stark black-and-white design, it's not exactly the most friendly title you'll play this year.

But if you want friendly, you can go and play Nintendogs. Loved might be tough, but it also explores a lot of interesting themes - relationships, love, and (most obviously) those of control. The paradox of gaming is that despite being supposedly superior to movies and music because games are interactive, a gamer spends almost the entirety of his or her time doing what they're told. Go there. Fetch this. Kill him. Find Mankrik's wife.

So Loved is about disobedience. You'll be told to do things, and it's entirely up to you whether you do so or not. I'll avoid too many spoilers, but early on you'll be faced with the choice of taking the high road or the low road, and instructed to opt for the latter. The only problem is that the low road is paved with spikes, and rather tougher to get past. So do you obey the voice who's been abusing you, or resist? Your choice affects the ending, as the world begins to fill with colour and you discover that the narrator might not be all that it seems.

Loved is free to play, can be finished (with one ending) in about 15 minutes, and can be found on creator Alexander Ocias' website, or on Kongregate or Newgrounds. Great high-brow lunchtime gaming.

Edited by Nate Lanxon

Comments

The reference to mankrik's wife was epic!

Scotty Jnr

Jun 17th 2010

Or you might be called a boy, if you say you're a woman. Throwing you off by taking away your comfortable sense of self - and making you a child to make you feel vulnerable. (Because there's nothing inherently offensive about being called a girl. =) )

AM

Jun 20th 2011

I tink that game reflect the nature of some people* who say they love someone but they only love her (or him) wen she (or he) make what that the ''people'' say and then wen the loved woman ( or man) dont make what is suposed that make some anger comme in the relation ... and at the end if her( or he ) comme bored to make all what other want and want to go away .. the ''people'' dont want to lets them go ...anyway.. sorry for my bad english